Statecrafting: critical design exercises in sovereignty
Interdisciplinary workshops at Aalto University
About
Statecrafting was an interdisciplinary workshop developed for Aalto University in Helsinki, combining speculative design, cultural critique, and political imagination through the lens of sovereignty and governance. Drawing on Peter Frase’s Four Futures, participants explored how abundance or scarcity, together with egalitarian or hierarchical systems, shape possible social and political futures. Through collaborative exercises in critical and speculative design, students examined existing narratives around power and responsibility while creating alternative visions of governance and collective life. Working in small groups and using mixed media—including drawing, model making, generative tools, and performative storytelling—participants developed prototypes and experimental narratives imagining post-capitalist forms of statehood. The workshop treated design as both a research method and a political tool for materializing alternative futures.
Role
Course concept & teaching
Credits
Comissioned by Aalto University
Coordinated by Tarja Nieminen